"Buy the ticket, take the ride," was a favorite slogan of Hunter S. Thompson, and it largely defined both his work and his life. This full-blooded collection of his finest work for Rolling Stone showcases his roller-coaster career at the magazine that was his literary home. Jann Wenner, the gonzo journalist's friend and editor for nearly 35 years, assembles articles from Thompson's infamous run for sheriff of Aspen on the Freak Party ticket in 1970 to his final piece on the Bush-Kerry showdown of 2004. In between, Thompson dices out the 1972 presidential campaign (a miracle of journalism under pressure); spills plenty of ink over Richard Nixon, his bęte noire; and encounters Muhammad Ali, Bill Clinton, and the Super Bowl. Here too is a lengthy excerpt from his renowned masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and selected correspondence between Wenner and Thompson flows throughout the book.

"Thompson should be recognized for contributing some of the clearest, most bracing and fearless analysis of the possibilities and failures of American democracy in the past century."—Chicago Tribune